In the beginning, there was snow.
And the snow begat snowplows, snowblowers,
snow shovelers and very large pick-up
trucks with blades. And the snowplows,
snowblowers, snow shovelers and
very large pick-up trucks
with blades begat snow berms.
And the snow berms begat -- BERMTOPIA.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Show

Tonight the Best Dog in America will be anointed at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

(Of course, little do they know, WE have the Best Dog in America.)

(But Ben has made it clear -- he just doesn't want to be bothered with the paparazzi. Plus, there's that teeny-tiny issue of no papers and a confusing question of Lab and SharPei hanging from the family tree. Details, details.)

Six years ago, The Wonderfully Patient Spouse and I realized a life-long dream (who doesn't after watching the movie "Best in Show"?) and attended the ding-dang event. I will tell you, my friends, it is a spectacle and then some. One. Hundred. Thirty. Five. Years. That's some serious bounty of dogs. And owners. And handlers.

I WANT TO GO BACK. SOON. (Note: These aren't the best photos -- taken on a camera-in-a-box, I seem to recall. Life is so much better with a digital camera.)

First of all, it's at Madison -- friggin' -- Square Garden -- ironically, one of the most iconic sports and entertainment facilities in the country. And it's gone to the DOGS for two days each year. Still, it's a pretty heady feeling walking on the floor. I mean, some of the BEST athletes, artists and dogs have tread the pines at MSG.

Second, mid-town Manhattan is awash in dogs for 72+ hours -- you can't turn a corner without finding a handler or owner giving little Muffy her morning/afternoon/constitutional.

Third, the WKCDS is a benched show. That means you can go down and mingle with dogs, trainers, handlers, owners, and O.M.G. groomers all day long.

Apologies for this puppy (so to speak). People really aren't yellow in NYC.But this was so precious.

Except -- be prepared to Talk to the Paw right before the pups are heading out to compete. They. Need. To. Center.

Fourth, you develop a whole new appreciation and/or aversion for Sensible Shoes and really, really bad suits three sizes too small for the body squeezed inside them.

I've got to go. Sorry for the bad photos. BUT it's time for The Terriers! Next stop, BEST IN SHOW!

Bermtopia: My home town

A self-avowed winterphobe negotiates the seasons, kitchens, gardens and dogs formerly in Bermtopia (an idyllic little burg in the hinterlands of eastern Washington) and NOW in The Beav, a suburban mecca just outside Portland, Ore. Bermtopia was occasionally cursed with snow (which how this blog came to be) -- and The Beav with rain, but both are always, relentlessly, entertaining -- my hometowns.

And, yes, I occasionally cook -- and am more than happy to tell you about it at http://becauseisaidsokitchen.blogspot.com